The NCAA women’s hockey crown stays in Dinkytown. So does the zero beneath the Gophers’ loss column.

With history and the pressure of defending a national championship bearing down at Ridder Arena, Minnesota rose to the challenge with a convincing 6-3 victory over Boston University on Sunday, March 24, scaling heights reached by no other team in the sport.

The Gophers finished the 2012-13 season 41-0 and extended their record winning streak to 49 games since their last loss on Feb. 17, 2012.

It was a thorough win powered by two power-play goals and a shorthanded tally, 10 players who recorded points and 21 saves by star goalie Noora RÃƒÂ¤ty. And it was a monumental achievement considering one loss in the national tournament or last week’s conference championship would have ruined the coronation.

Since the NCAA sanctioned women’s hockey in 2001, no Division I team had posted an undefeated season. Wisconsin came close in 2007, when it won the national championship with a 36-1-4 record.

“We finally got relaxed when we started playing because there was so much pressure to get to this Frozen Four and the national championship game,” said senior co-captain Megan Bozek. “I think it was great that nerves didn’t get best of us today. We started strong and played 60 minutes of Gopher hockey.”

Amanda Kessel, the Patty Kazmaier Award winner as the country’s best player, scored two goals and added two assists. Defenseman Rachel Ramsey had a goal and two assists and winger Maryanne Menefee had three assists to pace the attack.

The Gophers had leads of 2-0, 4-1 and 5-2 but the Terriers answered each time to slow the inevitable. Kessel’s empty-net goal with 49 seconds remaining allowed the Gophers and the sellout crowd of 3,400 to exhale and prepare for the wild celebration that followed the game-ending horn.

Minnesota added to a trophy case that includes consecutive national titles in 2004 and ’05 following their initial 2000 championship, a year before the NCAA sanctioned the sport.

The Gophers’ toughest games were their previous two. Friday’s 3-2 overtime victory over Mercyhurst in the semifinals followed a triple-overtime win over archrival North Dakota at last week’s WCHA championship.

“I do feel like the weight of undefeated season weighed on them not playing as well as last week, when you’re in a one-and-done situation,” Frost said. “But today I felt they played the way they know they can play.

“It’s just mind boggling. I can’t even believe it. To go 41-0 is amazing. It’s very surreal. I’ll probably have to pinch myself when I get back home and put my head on the pillow.”

Boston University coach Brian Durocher lauded his team’s resolve but acknowledged the Terriers faced a powerhouse and arguably the best women’s hockey team ever assembled.

“You saw record-breaking team play a great hockey game. They earned what they got,” Durocher said.

Basking in their second straight national championship and an unblemished season, the Gophers were unwilling to proclaim themselves the greatest ever, preferring to let the facts speak loudly for them.

“Doesn’t that already say we are the best or arguably the best women’s team in history?” RÃƒÂ¤ty said. “No other team has done this.”

Kessel, a shoo-in for the 2014 U.S. Olympic team, is expected to return for her senior season after playing in Sochi, Russia. She’ll have plenty of memories to keep her collegiate fire burning.

“Amazing. I can’t stop smiling,” she said. “A lot of people are crying but it hasn’t hit me yet. It’s going to be sad not playing with this bunch of great seniors. But I just can’t stop smiling. I thought it was impossible. We made the impossible possible.”

Brian Murphy has been on the Pioneer Press sports staff since 2000, migrating from the Detroit Free Press, where he covered police, courts and sports for four years. Murphy was the Minnesota Wild/NHL beat writer from 2002 to 2008 and has covered the Vikings as a reporter and columnist since 2009. Murphy is a Detroit native and Wayne State University graduate.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

It was clear early on that the Gophers women’s basketball team was in for a physical game against Army. Minnesota didn’t seem to mind all the hands, elbows and hips directed its way — the Gophers play in the Big Ten, after all — and earned a 70-52 victory over the Black Knights on Thursday night at Williams Arena. “I...

Top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul will make its ninth appearance in the NCAA Division II national semifinals after defeating No. 8 American International in three sets Thursday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Golden Bears (33-2), who won 25-6, 25-16, 25-13, will face No. 5 Lewis at 7:30 p.m. Friday. No. 6 Alaska-Anchorage and No. 2 Palm Beach...

TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors pushed aside the Minnesota Timberwolves — again. With Toronto down 95-94 with 8:46 left, DeRozan and Lowry keyed a 17-4 Raptors run that took the game away from the youthful Timberwolves. Toronto eventually pulled out a 124-110 victory, handing Minnesota its 13th straight loss at Air Canada Centre. “We just...

Members of the Missouri Tigers volleyball team are ready to have about 5,500 people rooting against them Friday night at 7:15 p.m. when they take on Minnesota’s Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA volleyball Minneapolis regional. “We’ve competed against a Big Ten team (Purdue, whom 27-5 Missouri defeated to advance to the regional semifinal) and that wasn’t a...

Unafraid of introducing his players to advanced statistics, Gophers coach Richard Pitino routinely tells his squad where they stand among college basketball’s top teams in stats not included in a box score. He prints out charts that combine traditional and advanced statistics, discusses them with players at practice and has an assistant track them during games to help with adjustments....

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was optimistic punt returner Marcus Sherels will be able to play Sunday at Jacksonville, which would be a boost to a special-teams unit that struggled in several phases in last week’s loss to Dallas. Sherels has missed three of the past four games because of injury, including the previous two. Adam Thielen and Cordarrelle Patterson assumed...